Sisters Rocks and Humbug Mountain

Friday, May 3, 2019

My sister and I spent a long weekend at the Oregon Coast. We weren’t brave enough to camp in a tent (or maybe we’re just getting soft as we get older), so Thursday night we rolled into the KOA where we had booked a cabin. We still cooked outside on the Coleman stove, but we had a warm dry place to sleep:

KOA cabin

KOA cabin

Our first stop this morning was Battle Rock Wayside Park in Port Orford. In 1851 Captain William Tichenor dropped off nine men on the beach here. The local Qua-to-mah tribe wasn’t too happy about that, and according to the sign at the park for two weeks the men were “besieged on the island now called Battle Rock.” They were finally able to slip away in the night and escaped north to Umpqua City. Of course we know how this story ends: white men return in greater numbers and the native people are removed. You can read more here.

Battle Rock Wayside

We also had a view of the harbor and the “dolly dock” there. The harbor is too shallow so hoists lift the boats in and out of the water every day:

Battle Rock Wayside

It was a gorgeous day:

Battle Rock Wayside

We could see Humbug Mountain in the distance. Those rocks in the ocean are part of the Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve.:

Battle Rock Wayside

There is a nice viewing area here at Battle Rock:

Battle Rock Wayside

And a visitor’s center (which wasn’t open):

Battle Rock Wayside

Our next stop was Sisters Rocks State Park, an obscure and unsigned park right by Highway 101 south of Humbug Mountain State Park. We parked at this blocked-off road, but we later realized that the gravel parking area just south of here would have worked too:

Sisters Rocks State Park

We walked down the old road, which was in use when Frankport Beach (on the north side of this little peninsula area) was the site of a dock for loading tanoak bark onto ships:

Sisters Rocks State Park

Sisters Rocks was also the site of a rock quarry in the 50s and 60s. Now the road is gated:

Sisters Rocks State Park

View of Sisters Rocks:

Sisters Rocks State Park

We could see into the cave below us. It used to be an enclosed cave, but the roof collapsed so now it is open to the sky:

Sisters Rocks State Park

Looking north to Humbug Mountain:

Sisters Rocks State Park

The old road took us down to the base of the rocks and we went over to look into the sea cave:

Sisters Rocks State Park

Sisters Rocks State Park

We went around to the side of the rock to look into the cave entrance on the side:

Sisters Rocks State Park

We walked north a little bit along the beach. The water was so blue! The sky was so blue! Here’s Humbug Mountain again:

Sisters Rocks State Park

We followed raccoon tracks on the beach for a little ways:

Raccoon tracks

Looking back at the rocks:

Sisters Rocks State Park

We hiked back up the old road to the car and drove north to Humbug Mountain to hike up it. It’s a workout! We climbed up through the forest:

Humbug Mountain Hike

When we reached the junction we went right on the West Trail:

Humbug Mountain Hike

There is one spot with a view to the north. That’s Port Orford Heads State Park to the left, and the town of Port Orford to the right:

Humbug Mountain Hike

And Highway 101 winding its way toward Port Orford:

Humbug Mountain Hike

When we got to the top we discovered a recently opened-up view. As near as I can tell, crews cleared some trees up here just this spring, considerably opening up the views to the south. You can see what the summit “view” looked like in this hiker’s photo from May 2016. Here is what it looked like during our visit:

Humbug Mountain Hike

Humbug Mountain Hike

Also, the crews crafted some nice wooden benches from the trees they cut:

Humbug Mountain Hike

Humbug Mountain Hike

Funny:

Humbug Mountain Hike

We could see some prominent peaks in the mountains to the east. The prominent one on the left with a patch of snow on it is Saddle Mountain (no, not THAT Saddle Mountain). The point sticking up to its right is Collier Butte. The forested hill in the foreground right of center is Colebrook Butte:

Humbug Mountain Hike

The summit was protected from the relentless wind and the sunshine felt great. After sitting there and enjoying the view for awhile we hiked back down through the trees:

Humbug Mountain Hike

We saw a few trillium:

Humbug Mountain Hike

Back in Port Orford we followed signs to the Wetland Interpretive Walkway, which was a little boardwalk in a wetland right in town:

Port Orford

Port Orford

To wrap up the day we stopped at Paradise Point, a beach access point just outside of Port Orford. These pretty pink flowers were blooming, although they are no doubt non-native:

Paradise Point State Recreation Site

To the north we could see Cape Blanco, which we would be visiting tomorrow:

Paradise Point State Recreation Site

To the south we could see Port Orford Heads:

Paradise Point State Recreation Site

We walked on the beach for a short distance, but it was just too crazy windy to be out there long:

Paradise Point

God’s Thumb

Sunday, April 28, 2019

NOTE: Before you read on, if you are planning to visit God’s Thumb please use good judgement. People come here and make poor decisions and then need rescuing. As of this writing, the trail to the top of God’s Thumb is rough and steep and unofficial.

This was a GORGEOUS day at the coast so I decided to hike to God’s Thumb before driving home. I used the directions from this article, but unfortunately I turned too soon which resulted in me hiking a bunch of extra unnecessary mileage.

I parked at Road’s End State Park:

God's Thumb Hike

Then started walking up Sal-La-Sea Drive (where a red-winged blackbird greeted me):

God's Thumb Hike

God's Thumb Hike

The directions said to walk one mile “to a junction with NW Port Drive, and turn right. There may be signs pointing the way toward “The Knoll.”” I had not gone one mile, but there was a sign for The Knoll and a gate, and Google Maps said this was Port Dr. So I turned right.

God's Thumb Hike

That sign had a nice map on it that I photographed, glanced at, but should have looked at closer. I realized too late that I should have kept road-walking to the parking spot directly south of The Knoll, where the red marker is. Instead I turned off at the other marked parking spot, just below and to the right, and started hiking east.

The Knoll map

The right-of-way was pretty wide with the path down the middle. It looked like it was intended to be a road at one point:

God's Thumb Hike

God's Thumb Hike

I popped out at the end of NE Devil’s Lake Blvd (labeled “cul de sac” on that map). Later I did some research online and discovered that this whole area I was hiking through was called The Villages at Cascade Head. Back in 2013 Lincoln City purchased it “from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) at the end of May for $2,500,000. The property is the subject of an environmentally-friendly development that was foreclosed upon. Its 363 acres are almost entirely wooded and provide habitat for a number of protected species of animals and plants.” (article)

At that time, the city planned “to keep some of the property as open space, develop some of it for affordable housing, and then sell off pieces of the property to private investors to develop in an environmentally-friendly fashion. In the meantime, the City will designate the property as an interim park.”

I found this presentation from 2017 that indicates that city would like to develop the area along Devil’s Lake Blvd, but based on the maps it doesn’t look like it would include The Knoll.

I crossed to the other side of the cul de sac, and picked up the trail heading east:

God's Thumb Hike

God's Thumb Hike

At some point it felt like I left behind what was once intended to be a road, and was now on a true forest trail:

God's Thumb Hike

However, maybe I was wrong because I passed the rusting remains of an old car just downhill from the trail. It was too far-gone to tell what it once was.

God's Thumb Hike

God's Thumb Hike

God's Thumb Hike

Also, it appeared that someone had recently (and probably illegally) driven their vehicle on this path, as I saw tread marks for quite a distance:

God's Thumb Hike

God's Thumb Hike

I was now making a big unnecessary loop over and around:

God's Thumb Hike

The Knoll was out of my way, an out-and-back side trip that would not be on the way to God’s Thumb, so I decided to skip that. I passed through a meadow:

God's Thumb Hike

I was now out of the parcel owned by the city and was hiking in the Siuslaw National Forest. I hiked through more trees, and emerged into another meadow:

God's Thumb Hike

And I could now FINALLY see the ocean:

God's Thumb Hike

Just a little further on I got my first view of God’s Thumb:

God's Thumb Hike

God's Thumb Hike

I hiked down to a saddle below it:

God's Thumb Hike

Then scrambled up to the top where I had a great view north to Cascade Head:

God's Thumb Hike

And a great view south:

God's Thumb Hike

God's Thumb Hike

After sitting there for awhile I made my way back down and headed down the path that would dump me out at Logan Road. I took one last look back at God’s Thumb before entering the trees:

God's Thumb Hike

Many parts of this section of the trail were horrifically muddy:

God's Thumb Hike

God's Thumb Hike

The path came out on a gravel road which I followed to Logan Road, passing through a gate. It now looked like a driveway, but were not any “no trespassing” signs:

God's Thumb Hike

To get back to Road’s End and my car I walked down to Logan until I reached this beach access point at NW 73rd:

God's Thumb Hike

And then I walked the rest of the way back on the beach:

God's Thumb Hike

Before getting off the beach at Road’s End I turned back and saw God’s Thumb poking up to the north:

God's Thumb Hike

I’ve heard a lot about this hike so it was nice to do it on such a beautiful day. I hope the city can improve the muddy parts of the trail.

Here’s my route:

God'sThumbTrack

Wenaha River Hike and Troy

April 12-14, 2019

We spent the weekend with our friends in Troy and hiked the Wenaha River Trail:

Wenaha River Trail

Troy is a long way from nowhere. We headed east on Interstate 84, then north. The mountains had fresh snow on them:

Snowy mountains

From Highway 3 we got onto Flora Lane, which changed to Redmond Grade. This is what it looked like as we descended down to Troy:

Redmond Grade Road

Redmond Grade is a dirt/gravel road and steep in spots. I wouldn’t want to do this in wet weather:

Redmond Grade Lane

I get carsick easy so I was very glad when we finally arrive in Troy. Our accommodations for the weekend was a cabin once owned by John Fogerty and now available to rent through Airbnb. The setting is quite beautiful, and the Grand Ronde River is just a few feet away from the cabin. This was a bit of a concern because the area had been pounded by rain shortly before our trip and the river had risen quite a bit. But the water didn’t reach the cabin.

John Fogerty Cabin

John Fogerty Cabin

John Fogerty Cabin

John Fogerty Cabin

John Fogerty Cabin

John Fogerty Cabin956

The decor was very 1970s:

John Fogerty Cabin

John Fogerty Cabin

John Fogerty Cabin

Cool old sign in the garage:

John Fogerty Cabin

You can see the high water line in the foreground of this shot:

John Fogerty Cabin

There was still some standing water in a low spot of the driveway but we were able to drive through it:

Wet driveway

After getting settled we decided to take a walk. The cabin is on the opposite side of the river from Troy, so we walked over this historic 1910 bridge, only open to pedestrians these days:

Troy bridge

From the bridge we could see where the Wenaha River flowed under Troy Road and into the Grand Ronde River:

Wenaha - Grande Ronde Confluence

This building is a place of many names: Troy Resort, Wenaha Bar & Grill, Shilo Inn Lodge & Cafe. It’s under new management according to this 2017 article:

Troy Store

We could see our cabin across the river:

Cabin across the river

As we walked north along lonely Troy River Road we spotted some deer up on the hillside:

Deer

And then we spotted some elk:

Elk

Back at the cabin later we decided to drive up to Grouse Flat a wide plateau high above Troy and the Grand Ronde River. We made our way up there via Bartlett Road. On the plateau we passed Bartlett Union cemetery:

Barlett Union Cemetery

Then we went north on Grouse Flat Road, passed into Washington state, and turned left on Sheep Creek Area Road. We entered Grouse Flat Wildlife Area:

Grouse Flat Wildlife Area

There wasn’t much to see there, plus we encountered some snow, so we turned around. On the way back down Bartlett we saw some white tailed deer:

Grouse Flat

As we descended back down to town we had a view of the river and hills:

Evening light over Troy

Saturday morning was beautiful because we had some brief sun breaks. This was our view across the river from the cabin:

After breakfast we set off on a hike down the Wenaha River Trail:

Wenaha River Trail

We got lucky with the wildflower timing! We saw lots of balsamroot:

Wenaha River Trail

Wenaha River Trail

The trail traverses the slope high above the river in a really pretty canyon:

Wenaha River Trail

Wenaha River Trail

Then we descended to a flat area with burned trees from the 2015 Grizzly Complex Fire that swept through here:

Wenaha River Trail

We saw signs of recent trail maintenance, including sawed trees that had fallen across the trail:

Wenaha River Trail

And cut brush:

Wenaha River Trail

The trail rose back above the river again:

Wenaha River Trail

Looking back from whence we came:

Wenaha River Trail

We were now below an old decommissioned road and started seeing old car parts that had been tossed from that road a long time ago:

Wenaha River Trail

We passed through a gate:

Wenaha River Trail

Wenaha River Trail

Then we spotted a herd of bighorn sheep high on the canyon wall across the river. Cool!

Wenaha River Trail

Wenaha River Trail

We saw quite a lot of ball-head waterleaf:

Wenaha River Trail

And dutchman’s breeches:

Wenaha River Trail

And some shooting stars:

Wenaha River Trail

This fallen tree was a bit tricky to navigate around:

Wenaha River Trail

Such a pretty canyon!

Wenaha River Trail

We crossed that old decommissioned road. It descends from above and continues to a nice-looking flat area down by the river:

Wenaha River Trail

The views up the canyon were really pretty:

Wenaha River Trail

Wenaha River Trail

Looking back at a spot where the trail is carved out of the cliff:

Wenaha River Trail

We spotted another herd of bighorn sheep, this time on our side of the river:

Wenaha River Trail

At 2.7 miles we reached the Umatilla National Forest Boundary. The sign was weathered and fallen down:

Wenaha River Trail

We could see across where to water was flowing out of Dry Gulch (not so dry today!):

Wenaha River Trail

The trail switchbacked down to river level again where we had a bit of flooded trail:

Wenaha River Trail

We hiked through a flat area of scorched trees:

Wenaha River Trail

We reached a point where we were ready to turn around so we found a flat area by the river:

Wenaha River Trail

Had a nice view across:

Wenaha River Trail

Heading back:

Wenaha River Trail

Wenaha River Trail

Wenaha River Trail

Wenaha River Trail

Hikers heading in told us about a rockslide that had just had occurred on the trail, and indeed as we approached the section where the trail is carved out of the cliff we could see it. Here’s the photo from earlier when we were hiking in:

Wenaha River Trail

And here is how it looked on the way out:

Wenaha River Trail

Wenaha River Trail

Wenaha River Trail

Home stretch:

Wenaha River Trail

What a pretty hike! The trail is 31 miles long, but about 6.5 miles from the Troy Trailhead (where we started), there is no longer a bridge over Crooked Creek thanks to the Grizzly Complex Fire in 2015. I later called the Pomeroy Ranger District to ask them if there were plans to replace the bridge. They said they want to, but the funds aren’t there. Because it’s in wilderness, the bridge has to be constructed off-site and then helicoptered in. They hope to get a grant, but predicted it would be 5-10 years before the bridge is replaced.

We packed up and headed back Sunday morning. As we drove back up out the canyon we saw a huge herd of elk on the hill above Troy:

Elk

And we got a nice view of the Grand Ronde River:

Grand Ronde River

We saw some white-tailed deer:

White-tailed deer

And wild turkeys:

Wild turkeys

We stopped at the Joseph Canyon Viewpoint and took in the view. The snow has only just melted here:

Joseph Canyon Viewpoint

Fun weekend! Troy is a long way from nowhere but it’s a really pretty area. I’d like to visit again.